Defense:
9

Utility:
0

Welcome to my Vayne Guide

Hey guys and welcome to yet another guide, this time covering the swift assassin known as Vayne. At first I thought she was just going to be another boring carry like Ashe, but she's one of the more unique champions I've played as far as ranged carries go. She has many utility moves, and crowd control, while having great burst and damage output. I build her like an assassin carry with attack speed, crit, and other items that have great synergy with her abilities. With this build you will shred tanks apart with your amazing armor penetration and Silver Bolts while killing squishies in a matter of seconds with your trinity pro and tumble! I hope you like my guide and make sure you read through the whole thing first before voting/commenting.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Cons

-Squishy-Casters like Malazahar, and Leblanc can give her trouble-She dies fast once stunned or silenced-Stealth only lasts 1 second-Can get focused in team fights

Runes

The runes I get are standard for a ranged DPS carry and there are some options as to what you take. For marks I take the standard armor penetration to greatly improve your early game and late game. For my seals I take either health per level or armor depending if I know that my team is heavy in attack damage (in ranked for example). I take health per level most of the time when I do regular matches because it's a universal stat and provides the best early game survivability. (Remember Vayne is one of the squishiest champions in game.) I don't really think you need mana regen seals or anything of the like because she only has 1 move that you constantly use that needs mana and it only costs around 40. For my glyphs I take flat cooldown reduction so that I can spam my tumble more often. Another option is possibly magic resist if you feel overwhelmed by casters, the only caster I ever had slight trouble with was Malzahar but other than that you should be fine because you rip apart squishies pretty fast. Lastly my quints are either armor penetration or the all around flat health quints. I normally take armor penetration because free damage is always cool, however I have been experimenting with flat health a little bit and I found them quite helpful with early game lane control due to your extra HP being able to harass more often. Once again Vayne starts out with very low health so less experienced players may want to take these if they feel to fragile. (On a side note I've been starting to use movespeed quints and seeing how they work, so far there actually quite nice because you will certainly have a large advantage in movespeed and you can chase down anyone. Also because the build already has tons of armor penetration. The runes I use are mainly adding to my damage and utility.This is my rune page with the exception of the per level CDR runes instead of flat, I sometimes use them and it's up to you whether you want better late game or early game.

Mastery Tree

The masteries I use are fairly simple to a ranged carry, I go 21 down offense tree making sure to grab improved exhaust while picking up other masteries to give me additional damage and cooldown reduction. Then I go down 9 in defense to get armor and magic resist plus strength of the spirit that gives you amazing health regen once you get Sheen.

Summoner Spells

Summoner spells are the key to winning games and the summoner spells you use are crucial to your gameplay, it is important you use the summoner spells that are most beneficial to you and help you out in the most ways.

Optimal Summoner Spells

First like to I take exhaust because it's amazing for early game killing which Vayne excels at and securing kills, it can also be used to shutdown carries, casters, and keep someone from tower diving you. It is in my opinion one of the most versatile summoner spells in the game. I take this with most of the DPS champions I play.Second I like to take flash because it's just amazing and can be used in many ways just like exhaust. You can escape, get into position, chase, and get away from towers after getting that first blood. It can also be used in combination with tumble for some awesome results.

Possible Summoner Spells

Ghost- If you feel the need for ghost then take it in the place of exhaust if you want extra escape abilities. Flash and ghost together can be a good combo on ranged carries however I prefer having one offensive spell and one defensive, especially because Vayne already has 2 escape spells, Condemn, and tumble. Let me also explain the reason I take flash/exhaust instead of ghost/exhaust like some people would. First off, chasing opponents will not be hard at all because if you forgot, you have your lovely passive that gives you a huge chunk of bonus movement speed when chasing enemies. Having ghost and this would just be overkill, your much better getting a more versatile reliable chasing/escaping summoner spell.Clairvoyance- Now before you say "'w-w-w-aaaaaaaaaaaaa?!?!?!? she's not a support champ u don't need dis noob gtfo with ur noob spells" think about Vayne's passive, it gives bonus movespeed while moving towards enemies, only applied when you have vision of them. Say you chasing someone down the river and they flash over a wall, you pop clairvoyance and you now have sight so that little bit of movespeed can sometimes help you catch up. Again I wouldn't totally recommend this it's just a thought.Ignite- This is the last spell I might consider, the extra damage from this is great for getting early game kills and countering Dr.Mundo/Vladimir. If you get this you can role with exhaust ignite for an amazing early game, or flash ignite for a safer high damage play style.

Items

The items I get have to do heavily with synergy among her abilities. I get some standard DPS items but also grabbing items like SotD, Sheen, and Black Cleaver to complement her abilities specifically her Q and W. For Vayne you do not need to stack any sort of damage like bloodthristers. Her ult and tumble+sheen already give her enough damage and your main source of DPS comes from your attack speed and W procs.

My normal build

Doran's Blade- This starting item is pretty much essential unless you feel like starting with a mere 452 health. The damage and lifesteal is great for early game and picking off squishies. It is not wise to start without this, however if you want to risk it then you could start with maybe a sapphire crystal to build into sheen or a long sword perhaps.Sheen- It's so important to rush this item on Vayne, as important as Ezreal. With this nifty item your tumble will be dealing insane damage off sheen proc. Basically take your current attack damage and multiply it by about 2.7. That's a close estimate of the damage you deal with Tumble at once you get sheen (your Q will be leveled up enough when you get sheen that the bonus damage will be 60-70% of attack damage instead of the starting 55%). The mana from sheen is also nice for spamming your abilities even more. It does have ability power that doesn't really benefit you much but sheen mainly just for the 100% of attack damage proc.Beserker's Greaves- Boots are always a matter of choice and very situational, but I find the best boots to be these because attack speed is always great helping out your W. Mercury Treads and Ionian Boots are also possibilities.Sword of the Divine- This is where we start to get into the meat of the build and the big items start coming in. Sword of the Divine has everything Vayne could ever need, attack speed to make her W proc faster and additional damage every 4 attacks which goes great with your W as well. Also don't forget the active that makes tanks and Jaxes cry.Black Cleaver- This item is great and gives armor shred plus attack speed for great synergy. Plus the 55 attack damage that you can't forget.Trinity Force- Trinity Force is basically the icing on the cake giving you loads of stats plus some defense too. You will be godlike once you get this beast item.Banshee's Veil- This is an amazing staple defense item, it gives a shield, health, mana, and magic resist. With this and Trinity Force you will be beefy enough to survive fights!Infinity Edge- This is the god of all gods and will make your crit chance about 40% with Trinity Force and mastery trinity, when you do crit your damage is godly. Basically it's close to your attack damage being quintupled. (Tumble 75% increase plus trinity plus 250% crit plus actual attack damage is insane) every 1.5 seconds when you use tumble. That's just plain crazy, make sure to get this item for the icing on the cake.

Possible Items

Madred's Bloodrazor- This is an item that goes pretty well with Vayne and has good synergy with her W giving attack speed and additional health shred. I don't normally buy this though because the item just costs too much and it gets you off track your main item build. You will end up falling behind and the parts to this item aren't really the best (Madred's Razors, pickaxe). You can get this if you want but I wouldn't recomend it because you already have 1 very expensive item (Trinity Force) early on.Frozen Mallet- This is an ok item to get if you want the 100% slow but you already have it on trinity force (35%) the health it gives is good and 20 damage is alright too. I prefer Banshee's Veil over this though.

Learning Vayne's Abilities

This passive is pretty sweet for chasing down enemies and REALLY helps you harass in early game. If you have movespeed quints you should have total control.Tumble- (Active): Vayne tumbles, maneuvering to carefully place her next shot. She rolls toward the cursor and her next attack deals bonus damage.

This ability is straight up beast with only around a 1.5 second cooldown once you get some items. It makes your attacks deadly strong and it's amazing for harassing.Silver Bolts- Vayne tips her bolts with a rare metal, toxic to evil things. The third consecutive attack or ability against the same target deals a percentage of the target's maximum Health as bonus true damage. (Max damage vs. Monsters is capped at 200)

This is a pretty nice ability and it's great against tanks, it makes killing jungle creeps pretty easy, however you must remember the debuff only stays if you stay on the same target.Condemn- (Active): Vayne draws a heavy crossbow from her back, and fires a huge bolt at her target, dealing damage and knocking them back. If they collide with terrain, they are impaled, dealing bonus damage and stunning them.

This is basically like a long range version of Poppy and it works wonders, it's great for interrupting all kinds of ultimate's and pulling off other cool stuff.Final Hour- Readying herself for an epic confrontation, Vayne gains increased Attack Damage, stealth during Tumble, and quadruple the bonus Movement Speed from Night Hunter.

Final hour is pretty much your attack steroid and you can use it for chasing, escaping, 1v1, and much more things. Always use this when entering a fight and killing towers because its cooldown is short too.

Skill Ordering

For Vayne I max out tumble first followed by Silver Bolts, then Condemn. Of course taking my ultimate whenever I can.
The reason I do this order is because tumble gains great benefits when leveling it and it's important to get it maxed at level 9 so that you can have the very short cooldown. Silver Bolts is good to max out second because early on you build mostly attack speed which enhances the skill. Condemn is mostly used for the CC/Stun and leveling it up doesn't increase the effect, only damage.

Laning Phase

Vayne is one of the best laners in the game and you have to take advantage of that. She is best mid lane because she excels in 1v1 fights. She is a good harasser, farmer, and pusher.

Harassing

Vayne is an amazing harasser and can close gaps between opponents using the key ability tumble. You can use this to stay back, then roll in a get a quick poke on your enemy, against squishies this move will deal crazy damage even at level 1. Make sure to not be stupid and harass them when there are a bunch of minions nearby because they will all attack you and end up dealing more damage to you then you did to them, especially if they harass you back, it just won't turn out good so don't try. Wait until there are 1-3 minions left then tumble in hit them a few times and if there slow enough the cooldown on tumble is short enough that you could hit them twice. Just don't get too carried away with harassing, you still need to farm minions and you won't get money unless you actually kill them, so know when to play defensive too.

Last Hits

Last hits are the most important thing in the game, it's the easiest way to rack up money. While champion kills are good, it's not worth it if you die in the process or have to go back to base missing out on many last hits and experience. Last hits are really easy with Vayne because you can use your tumble to ensure a last hit especially on cannon minions. Vayne's attack animation is quite nice and quick so you should easily be able to get last hits just with your standard attacks. Try to find a good balance of last hitting and harassing, don't do too much of either.

Getting your first kill

Once you hit 6 if you haven't gotten a kill already your about to. Make sure you harass them down to at least half health, then walk a little back, pop your ult and hit tumble you will stealth for a little so they won't know your coming. Then hit them with a few attacks run towards them with your quadrupled movespeed and use exhaust. Go around them and use Condemn thus knocking them back closer to your turret. Use tumble every time it comes off cooldown and if you have to take a couple turret hits just flash out and enjoy your wonderful kill, your DPS should be more than enough to quickly take down anyone with ease.

How to Gank

Ganking is key to helping your team and making sure everyone is caught up as well as you. You don't want anyone feeding the enemies and you want to maintain a balanced. To gank just push your lane (Best if your lane opponent is not currently in the lane) and head down the river to one of the lanes. Wait in the bush, pop your ult and stealth for a surprise, knock enemy back with your E and take care of them. Also you can push a turret too if open.

Team Fights

Team fights can sometimes be hard with Vayne, do your best to stay in the back and snipe people using tumble, make sure not to tumble into the enemies by accident because you will most likely die, try to tumble backwards and move back up to take the shot. Use condemn whenever possible but try to hit enemies into walls DO NOT EVER HIT AN ENEMY AWAY FROM THE FIGHT WHILE THEY ARE GETTING ATTACKED UNLESS THEY ARE VERY LOW ON HP, YOUR TEAM WILL GET MAD what you should do though is use this to knock out the tanks and supports while your team brings down the squishies, you can also use this to save allies. If you have very good tanks you can probably stay in battle constantly and attack, when your not focused your DPS can be pretty insane and it's easy to get triples and quads. Remember to use your ult in the beginning of every fight, it will help...A LOT.

Changelog

-5/12/11: Removed ghostblade and brutalizer from build as it wasted time in getting the main items and the cooldown reduction isn't that much of a benefit.
-5/12/11: Added frozen mallet, and changed the item order slightly.
-5/12/11: Changed the skill ordering to maxing Silver Bolts second due to the attack speed early in build.
-5/12/11: Added a possible items part of the Items section.
-5/13/11: Changed Boots of Lucidity to Beserker's Greaves as they seemed to go better with her.
-5/13/11: Did some slight changes to Pros and Cons section.
-5/13/11: Swapped out Frozen Mallet for Banshee's Veil as it seemed to be a better defensive item choice and trinity force already gave a slow.
-5/14/11: Changed Masteries to accommodate strength of spirit.
-5/14/11: Changed runes to magic resist instead of CDR.

The End

This is the end of my guide, hope you learned a lot about Vayne. I always do amazing with this build and have much higher DPS sustainability/team fight survival then most Vayne's that build her like a straight carry like Ashe with items like Phantom Dancer and Bloodthirsters this is not the best way to build her as you missing out on all the amazing abilities you have. Remember to vote and comment down below. I'm open to constructive criticism and feedback, if you think one way should be another please tell me. I will add more sections later on as I learn more techniques for this champion and keep a change log as well, peace for now.

League of Legends is a team based, real time strategy game set in a mythical world of swords & magic where epic battles decide the fate of mystical nations. Game players take on the role of a Summoner who conjures and controls champions to fight for them at the Institute of War. During game play champions gain experience and items to enhance their skills and abilities. How players develop and play their champions can be the difference between a crushing defeat or a glorious victory!